I love Rozanne too.

I have Ankum's Pride (from Plant Delights) and, although it is attractive as a foliage plant, it has been a big disappointment bloom wise here in the Deep South. It blooms once, and not heavily. Period. It wasn't cheap, so fellow PDN fans, be warned.

I have a few different kinds, but Jolly Bee is the best. I'd heard it likes to sprawl, and that's what I wanted. It's at least 3 ft wide and blooms from mid June until a hard frost. It is very similar to Rozanne. The reason I picked Jolly Bee was I had read a lot of posters saying it overwintered really well in the cold northern states. This past winter was really bad and it came thru with flying colors.

Kat

rozanne and samobor and A.T. Johnson are my favs. Indespensable in the gardens here.
best,
mindy

In addition to 'Rozeanne', 'Dilys' is a great geranium for a groundcover, though the foot print of the plant is very small. It also blooms all season. I also find that the groundcover geraniums like 'Bevan's', 'Karmina' etc. can take nearly full sun, are very attractive, and are fully deer resistant, unlike most other geraniums. It's their G. maccrorhizum parentage (another great groundcover geranium), that gives the leaves the strong scent. In a solid mass, they find their place.

I would love to hear more about Samobor, seems like it can go anywhere. Does it mound or sprawl?

I have 13 different Perennial Geraniums yet my most favourite has to be the Purple Heron. Such a cute mounding compact plant with deep purple foliage. Bloom time, although quite pretty, is not as long as I'd like, but the foliage stays all season which is a definite plus.

G. 'Anne Folkard' a sprawler, love the magenta color/black eye and G.x cantabrigienses 'Cambridge' a nice bright pink, I also like 'Biokovo', for me a nice ground cover type white/pink eye. I have others but these three are my favorites right now.

Annette

Also, where do you like to buy them? Locally or online? I have had 2 divisions gifted to me and bought the others at Bluestone.

* G. magnificum. Love the foliage, love the deep purple flowers. Why this one is not grown by more folks leaves me scratching my head....

* "Biokovo". It will grow just about anywhere. Seriously. Beautiful groundcover, always neat and tidy - never an open, sprawly mess like a lot of geraniums - and the foliage smells lovely (reminiscent of Vernors).

Johnson's Blue is a great one for me. I'm not sure about your zone though :-)

Carla

Anyone have any photos?

Karmina is one I like, but I have had it for at least 6 years and I think I am getting tired of it and wish I had a new one I liked. I always check out the Geranium table at every nursery looking for another. I enjoy Samobar too. Lovely foliage, nice mounding plant.

Karmina with what I believe is 'Biokovo'....

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Mxk3 or anyone have a close up of the foliage of 'magnificum' or 'grandiflorum' I have both but because of moving them around and dividing I've lost the tags, can't remember which is which.

Annette

My new favorite is Rozanne, but I also love my Alan Bloom. It is dark pink and blooms all season with deadheading, and is not a sprawler. I just shovel pruned some Johnson's Blue--too much sprawl for me.

Rachel

I have Brookside, bought nice sized plants about 4 or 5 years ago now. They come back nicely every year, even though we get some pretty rough very very cold winters here. They have a really pretty blue-violet flower, makes a nice mound,blooms for a long time and if I cut it back in time, I get a second bloom. Love them! (OH YEAH, planted in full sun)

I tried some rozanne last year, of the 3 plants, only 1 came back, and is really scrawny. But I have hope!

Jenny P

This is my second year with Jolly Bee. It took some time to get started but has not stopped blooming. I hope it makes it through another winter since I am enjoying it very much.

What would be important to me is the length of time of blooming. I have Bloody Cranesbill, and one given to me by my neighbor, and both bloom for a very short time. I'd like to find other varieties that bloom almost all season.

Linda

I agree, G. Bikovo and Karmina are great plants. When done blooming, the spent flower stalks are very easily pulled off to leave an attractive ground cover. Here are the two of them pictured in the foreground with Nepeta Walkes Low bedind.

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gazania what a really nice combo. How many Walker's Low plants are there? Do I see orange poppies or something else growing there with them? Do you trim your Walker's Low to grow it that height? Mine seems to get a bit larger and floppier and I am wondering if I should be cutting it back or moving it into more sun. Mine is in part sun.

prairiemoon, there are 3 Walkers Low in the area you can see in the pic. They are about 36" tall if you hold them up, but look more like 18' in their sprawling habit. It gets full sun except for about 2 hours of filtered shade from a tall elm about mid morning. Yes that is poppies in the back ground. Below is a pic of the G. Biokovo and Karmina as of today with Sedum Matrona. Great ground cover whether it flowers or not.

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Gazania,

Those are stunning vignettes! I have a lot of nepeta and seeing your geraniums in front makes me want to rush outside and do some rearranging! LOL

Thanks for sharing,
Cameron

Gazania...thanks for sharing another pic. It looks like this second photo is to the right of the first? I can see just a few leaves of what looks like a dark leaved Wegelia on the right side of the first photo, which I assume is the dark shrub on the left of the second photo? Phlox subulata in the front of those. Really nice combo. I moved my Nepeta in front of a Hydrangea and put Alchemilla in front of it last fall, but the Nepeta was just about prostate this year and after one initial bloom and a trim, it never bloomed again. So I am thinking it is not getting enough sun. I have both geraniums in multiple locations, so I am with Cameron...I'm ready to get out there and start moving the Nepeta! lol Thanks a lot for sharing and do you have any more cool combos? [g]

thought youall might enjoy this site. great large photos; true to color as well.

the british are really the leaders in geranium breeding and collections. just LOOK at all these wonderful ones!!
best,
mindy

Here is a link that might be useful: great large geranium photos

I've had 'Ballerina' for years and I've been very happy with it.

I've just added 'Sunshine'- which has some yellow coloration to the leaves and the purple-blue flowers. I'll also be adding 'Midnight Reiter' before the end of the season. Like one of the above posters, I find these are excellent plants to cover over the declining foliage of bulbs. I'm a foliage freak so finding a few cransbills with interesting foliage colors has been fun. I also want to try 'Katherine Adele' but I haven't found it locally, yet.

prairiemoon, you are very observant and correct on all counts. The nepeta does benifit from being deadheaded or cut back, but in my experience, the rebloom is minor. As bindersbee, I too am into foliage and any good combinations in my plantings are mostly due to that hunt for interesting color or texture in the leaves. As a result, that bed in my pictures has little bloom color in it right now, but has many textures.

Arbo I enjoyed that link very much. I am liking these plants more and more as they are so useful in the garden.

Still wanted to know where people like to buy....locally or online?

Redsox....Those I have, I bought at local nurseries, or community plant sales. But I do order plants from Bluestone Perennials, just haven't needed a geranium at the time I've ordered. Actually if there were a particular variety that I was looking for, I might look for a mail order source, because I really do not usually see anything more than the common varieties at our local nurseries. Maybe there is a specialist for the Cranebill? Have you checked out Garden Watchdog? They have a search function that you can look up which nurseries specialize in what. Not sure geraniums would be listed, but worth a shot.

pm2

An old article from 1998, linked below. Robin Parer of Geraniacea on the West Coast keeps up and stocks the latest varieties. She is a great resource and a very nice businesswoman.

Here is a link that might be useful: Geraniacea

I also like biokovo. A very nice, compact plant that looks great in bloom or out. I got my first from a plant swap, and then bought more from Bluestone. Some geraniums are just too floppy for my taste, so I prefer the lower, more compact ones. I use the biokovo as an edging in some beds.

I have Claridge Druce (sp?) which has wonderful flowers, but once it blooms I always say I'm going to ditch it because it just flops and usually browns.

:)
Dee

denisez, how super of you to have posted that link. a woman w Robin's knowledge of geraniums- choosing her top 10; what a TERRIFIC help!!i have been putting together an order(for her place) these past few nights and your post is so timely!
thanks so much for that,
Mindy